With the recent boom of artificial intelligence (AI) systems available at the consumer level, many of us are questioning if AI will impact our jobs or replace them altogether. One area where this is particularly noticeable is in copywriting. More and more companies are turning to artificial intelligence to create copy for their websites, advertisements, and other materials.

In this blog we’ll see how AI is changing copywriting, the benefits and risks of AI copywriting, and how businesses can leverage AI for copywriting needs. Let’s dive in.

How is AI changing copywriting?

AI has been impacting copywriters for several years and has only just recently become available to the broader public. In the early stages, AI content generators were limited to writing basic content like financial reports and product descriptions where most of the data was coming from an external source.

Now, through machine learning, AI chatbots are able to write human-sounding copy for almost anything. Through machine learning, modern chatbots can write copy for social media posts, blogs, advertisements, websites, and more with little input data. A blog that might take a copywriter a few hours to write and edit can be completed in just a few minutes or less with AI. 

Benefits of Using AI for Copywriting

Even if you’re an expert, copywriting takes time and energy to produce - two valuable resources most small businesses are running low on. This is exactly where AI can save the day. Since AI chatbots aren’t human, they aren’t distracted, tired, or burned out and can write pretty good copy quickly and efficiently. Another benefit of AI copywriting is how customizable it is. It can be targeted to specific audiences and optimized for search engines which can lead to more reach and more business.

Risks of Using AI for Copywriting

While AI can definitely aid in inspiration, starting off, writing drafts, and either condensing or expanding on copy you’ve already written it shouldn’t be a substitute for a human.

At this point in time, AI doesn’t have the nuance, creativity, or understanding of emotions that human writers have. While AI can save time and resources, it can also be unengaging and unauthentic to your audience. We suggest you always proofread, edit, and clean up AI generated content.

Aside from the risk of lackluster content, it’s also important to note that there are ethical and legal conciderations to make before using AI copy. In any other instance, copying and pasting work from someone else would be considered plagiarism. This raises the question if using work from a something else is ethical or not. AI also doesn’t check for copyright violations or other intellectual property infringements which could lead to huge legal implications if you aren’t careful.

How can businesses use AI to their advantage?

AI can be a great resource for small businesses needing an extra hand. You can use AI to write social media posts about your business, products, services, and updates you want to share with your audience. AI can also be used to write product descriptions for E-commerce websites if you input a few key points of data. Another way to use AI would be to get marketing insights on your target audience. We could go on and on about the benefits of AI and how it can save you time and money so you can focus on other aspects of your business.

Edit and use these commands the next time you use AI for your business:

• Give me five website headlines for a local plumbing business with 30 years of experience
• Write a social media post for Local Pizza Shop’s new delivery service in Lexington, KY.
• Transcribe this video
• Optimize this text for my website
• Generate a product description for XYZ

Will AI replace human copywriters?

Ehhhh…we don’t think so. While AI copywriting can be extremely helpful for businesses, it should be used with caution and always double checked by real people. It’s likely that AI will be used to improve copywriting workflows, but the future will probably be a collaborative effort between man and machine. We think the businesses that will come out on top will use the strengths of people and AI to take copywriting to the next level.

So... Now what?

Developers have been making huge strides in AI capabilities in the last few years and we’re now at a place where AI is accessible and easy to use for most consumers. As a small business owner, you can use AI to improve your copywriting processes and get content pushed out to your audience quicker and with less energy than human writers alone. However, AI is artificial intelligence, and your audience will likely lose interest with AI copy that is unengaging and lacking essential emotional intelligence. That’s why we recommend revising and editing AI copy with your Messaging Guide or a marketing expert.

P.S. This blog is an example of AI-inspired copy fixed up by a human. 😊